"Summer Lily" by Ruth McDowell posted 04-16-17

This is the most spring-like quilt in TCQC.  I posted it previously in May 2009, although I purchased it in 2003.  The original post is at:   

http://delquilts.blogspot.com/2009/09/update-on-sdeigo-trip-blue-flower-09-10.html

and has a funny story about those terrible high beds one finds in motels these days.

 

"Summer Lily"  Ruth B. McDowell  2002  59"W x 70"L

Cotton fabric, cotton batting, cotton thread

Machine pieced and quilted. 

www.ruthbmcdowell.com

 

The actual lily plant is 7 - 9 inches tall, so this exaggeration is an eye stopper.  

One of the delights in Ruth's quilts is the variety of fabrics that she uses and manages to mix together successfully. 

In the early 90s Ruth designed a line of fabrics for South Seas and has used bits of them for years in her quilts.  The leaf in the middle with the blue nine-patches and the snaky white "stitches" is one of hers.  The Swiss chard at the bottom is a Kaffe Fassett.

 

At the top of the picture with the floating triangles and also the light fabric with white bits that is in the middle of the picture are both Ruth's fabrics.  The gold and white checks in the bottom flower is a Marimekko.

 

The back fabric is also a Marimekko.  In this picture you can see the intricate quilting done on a domestic Pfaff machine.

And here is the back with those enormous yellow/orange/green poppies - one of Marimekko's best. 

Ruth's hand lettered label and the TCQC label above it.

 

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Update on SDeigo Trip - Blue flower 09-10-09

I have to tell you what a disappointment that shower was at the Westin. Yes, there are two shower heads, but two dispense the same amount of water as one! Yes, California is in severe water shortage, but it would have been more satisfying to spray myself with a squirt bottle.

The bed was pretty wonderful, but very high and it had a soft pillow top. When I woke up in the middle of the night to do a bathroom run, I couldn't get out of bed! The mattress was so soft I needed something to hang onto, since I couldn't reach the floor, and there was nothing to hang onto. I finally rolled on my stomach and flung my legs over the edge, followed by my rear end. Too bad there wasn't a video, it might have won a prize in the world's ugliest videos contest. With my short legs I certainly need to have a stool, or maybe a step ladder to get in and out of that sort of bed.

Nancy Ota took this picture just as I was showing how high a live Summer Lily is. The quilt by Ruth McDowell shows a huge version in a delightful fabric selection. This quilt is very popular with audiences - it is so colorful and the candelabra shaped plant is so graceful. You'll note that once again I have forgotten to exchange my sunglasses for my regular glasses - someone has to remind me. Later I realized and changed, but I always feel so silly when I discover how I look. Behind me are Joan Colvin's "Copper Tree" and Pamela Allen's "Getting my Ducks in a Row". And I am wearing an original Rayna Gillman silk scarf around my neck.

The blue flower I posted yesterday is one single flower from the flower head of Agapanthus Africanus or Lily-of-the-Nile. The picture was taken in the shade which gives the blue an extra glow. Several people were curious - maybe you were also.

TCQC - Summer Lily cont'd 05-31-09

The violet fabric w/triangles is one of the designs that Ruth created in 1993 for Kona Bay Fabrics. This image also shows a blue hand dye (Judy Robertson) and a blue/pink batik.

Ruth always makes lovely hand lettered labels.

The backing fabric is a Marimekko print. If you click to enlarge you will see the machine quilting patterns Ruth has used. She quilts on a home machine.

TCQC Summer Lily 05-31-09

"Summer Lily" Ruth B. McDowell 2002 58"W x70"L
Machine pieced, machine quilted, cotton fabrics, cotton thread.
Ruth's comments about this quilt: I love the candelabra shape of the northeastern wildflower, Lilium Canadensis. The flowers, which in nature are only 3 inches or so across, have been greatly enlarged for the quilt. My quilts develop from the fabrics I happen to have at the time. A very large-scale white background fabric in the borders is a drapery remnant from Holland. mcdowellquilts@comcast.net

I am a big fan of commercial prints and this quilt has so many different fabrics that every time I hang it I see one I didn't notice before. I've taken some detail pictures and I'm sure that some of you can identify every fabric. I'll just point out a few.

The large piece of blue on the right is a Marimekko, as is the yellow plaid in the upper left. There are several batiks and also 2 pieces of hand dye on the lower left.

On the right is more of the violet w/triangles fabric, just below it and to the left is another fabric from the same line and a hand dyed shibori seen in several places in the quilt.

Center top is more of the hand dyed shibori, to the right of which is a piece of the large print from Holland, the leaf across the middle is from the Kona Bay fabric line Ruth designed, across the bottom is some Kaffe Fassett Swiss Chard fabric and in the corner more of the Holland piece.